Prescribed fire Goals: The purpose of these projects is to improve forest health. The long-term vegetation goal is to move toward the properly functioning condition and return fire to its natural role in this area. Fire return intervals for this vegetation type vary from 5-15 years however much of the area has not been burned for over 100 years. The goal is to restore fire back into the stands, and improve the pine forest as well as brush (manzanita and bitterbrush) understory to improve overall forest health.

Fire Crews/Resources: Will be on scene to prepare, ignite, and hold the Prescribed Fire in predetermined locations. Once ignition has been completed, firefighting personnel will continue to patrol and monitor as necessary based on risk these burns until declared out.

Summary: The Dixie National Forest is a fire dependent ecosystem. Prescribed fire is an essential tool in maintaining healthy forest ecosystems. Prescribed fire is applied to maintain these forest ecosystems by providing healthier trees, watersheds, forage and habitat for wildlife and livestock, while reducing the threat of a large destructive wildfire from occurring in the future. Years of planning goes into each specific prescribed fire project, with priority emphasis on safety for the general public and firefighters. Care and forethought is taken to reduce the amount of the public’s exposure to smoke from prescribed fire projects. Strict guidelines regarding smoke, set forth by the Utah Division of Air Quality, must be met and followed before any ignition can begin. Large portions of these prescribed fire projects have been completed with a high level of success. We appreciate the public’s patience, questions, and comments concerning any of these projects.